How to Price Golf … Dynamically

Every once in a while, a company in a traditional industry uses a new pricing model. Troon North Golf is one of these companies.

Typically when you go to a golf course, there is a flat fee. Sometimes their weekend price is more than their weekday price, but that’s about as far as it goes. Troon has taken price segmentation to the next level.

If you check out their website, you’ll find they put different prices based on the time of day. They are in Arizona, so the morning tee times are more expensive than mid day. But in truth, it’s based on demand. More people want to play in the morning in Arizona. It’s worth more.

Play around with their site and you’ll find that different days have different prices. My favorite though is that as a tee time approaches and hasn’t yet been booked, the price goes down.

If they are using demand to drive pricing, which I believe they are, then they also probably change prices based on weather. I’ll bet on cool days in Scottsdale (are there any?) the prices are higher in the afternoon. Do they use the weather forecast to drive their pricing? If I were leading their pricing effort they would be.

OK, so what should you learn from this? Think about how golf has had the same pricing model for a very long time, and here this course has rethought it. They found a new pricing model that more closely correlates with how much golfers are willing to pay. That’s the lesson. Just because you’ve used the same pricing model for a long time doesn’t mean there isn’t a better one out there.

Think new. Look for ways to segment your pricing based on how much your buyers are willing to pay.